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Posted on 2/2/25 at 1:32 am to Hateradedrink
quote:
My guy, if the last week was any indication, everyone here who voted Trump is going to be saying they voted third party after about a year.
We’re going back to the “I’m a lolberterian” post-GWB days.
Trump seems to think he's going to be another McKinley (and... I wonder if he knows the ending of that story?)...
... but I think he's headed towards being another Hoover, but more directly responsible and blamed for everything... or another W. Bush, with Musk as Cheney
Posted on 2/2/25 at 1:53 am to Lee B
It’s already obvious to me it’s not Trump making policy decisions. Things are clearly written by people who don’t know how the federal government actually works, a la the rescinded memo.
The only thing to do is sit back and hope for the best. For me, I hope Trump and the circle of influence around him get everything they want. I don’t want any unanswered questions at the end of his term. Either America will be GA, or it won’t.
The only thing to do is sit back and hope for the best. For me, I hope Trump and the circle of influence around him get everything they want. I don’t want any unanswered questions at the end of his term. Either America will be GA, or it won’t.
Posted on 2/2/25 at 2:14 am to Hateradedrink
Oh, I think they know how the government works, but they're just trying to see what they can get away with doing and who will stop them.
Posted on 2/2/25 at 5:27 am to Lee B
British Defence Intelligence
INTELLIGENCE UPDATE
UPDATE ON UKRAINE
02 February 2025
It is highly likely injured Russian personnel are being returned to combat duties in Ukraine with unhealed wounds, often on crutches. Open source reporting suggests Russia's 20th Combined Arms Army has formed assault groups made up of walking wounded and directed them into combat.
There is a realistic possibility Russian commanders are directing this activity to retain personnel who would otherwise become lost in the overburdened medical system. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russia has sustained approximately 830,000 casualties since February 2022, of which it is likely over 400,000 have required treatment in medical facilities away from the frontline.
The injured soldiers have likely been returned to their units after being discharged from forward medical facilities, prematurely, at the behest of their commanders. This reduces the pressure on the overburdened military medical system and increases unit's ability to track and use wounded servicemen for operational tasks. The lack of proper medical attention in facilities away from the frontline necessitates the transfer of the administrative and medical burden back to troops' units.
INTELLIGENCE UPDATE
UPDATE ON UKRAINE
02 February 2025
It is highly likely injured Russian personnel are being returned to combat duties in Ukraine with unhealed wounds, often on crutches. Open source reporting suggests Russia's 20th Combined Arms Army has formed assault groups made up of walking wounded and directed them into combat.
There is a realistic possibility Russian commanders are directing this activity to retain personnel who would otherwise become lost in the overburdened medical system. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russia has sustained approximately 830,000 casualties since February 2022, of which it is likely over 400,000 have required treatment in medical facilities away from the frontline.
The injured soldiers have likely been returned to their units after being discharged from forward medical facilities, prematurely, at the behest of their commanders. This reduces the pressure on the overburdened military medical system and increases unit's ability to track and use wounded servicemen for operational tasks. The lack of proper medical attention in facilities away from the frontline necessitates the transfer of the administrative and medical burden back to troops' units.
Posted on 2/2/25 at 5:39 am to cypher
Posted on 2/2/25 at 9:04 am to cypher
Zelensky complains that Trump does not want to meet with him:
Putin can make the whole world feel that everyone has lost. And this will be reality. Because it is possible not to defeat Ukraine, but to defeat the whole world. To show that he was right. How? With impunity, that compromises were found with him. That is, it means that it is possible to act this way.
And I think that it is very dangerous if there are direct negotiations between America and Russia about Ukraine without Ukraine – this is very dangerous.
Yes, we had several contacts at the level of special envoys. And also with Kellogg and Vance. There are some contacts. They were not bad, but still, all of this was about general things. More detailed agreements can be between me and President Trump. I think this is very important, we need to work on this more. I understand that he is currently focused on domestic issues. He promised this to his voters. This is his personal right, and I understand all of this."
Putin can make the whole world feel that everyone has lost. And this will be reality. Because it is possible not to defeat Ukraine, but to defeat the whole world. To show that he was right. How? With impunity, that compromises were found with him. That is, it means that it is possible to act this way.
And I think that it is very dangerous if there are direct negotiations between America and Russia about Ukraine without Ukraine – this is very dangerous.
Yes, we had several contacts at the level of special envoys. And also with Kellogg and Vance. There are some contacts. They were not bad, but still, all of this was about general things. More detailed agreements can be between me and President Trump. I think this is very important, we need to work on this more. I understand that he is currently focused on domestic issues. He promised this to his voters. This is his personal right, and I understand all of this."
Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here.Posted on 2/2/25 at 9:26 am to cypher
It’s been long past time for this war to end. It should be obvious to Russia that any land beyond what they’ve attained will incur losses in excess of value.
It should also be obvious to Ukraine they aren’t getting their land back.
Ukraine will get to say they survived and Russia will get to say they built a buffer.
Russia will have to concede a defense agreement with Ukraine. There won’t be true peace if Russia can restart this war in a couple years.
It should also be obvious to Ukraine they aren’t getting their land back.
Ukraine will get to say they survived and Russia will get to say they built a buffer.
Russia will have to concede a defense agreement with Ukraine. There won’t be true peace if Russia can restart this war in a couple years.
This post was edited on 2/2/25 at 9:27 am
Posted on 2/2/25 at 10:05 am to Hateradedrink
quote:
Hateradedrink
Perfect summary.
Posted on 2/2/25 at 10:11 am to Hateradedrink
quote:
It’s been long past time for this war to end. It should be obvious to Russia that any land beyond what they’ve attained will incur losses in excess of value. It should also be obvious to Ukraine they aren’t getting their land back. Ukraine will get to say they survived and Russia will get to say they built a buffer. Russia will have to concede a defense agreement with Ukraine. There won’t be true peace if Russia can restart this war in a couple years.
I think you are right. Putin drove Russia between a rock and a hard place. They can go forward oh so slowly and they can’t back up and lose face.
Posted on 2/2/25 at 10:43 am to doubleb
quote:
I think you are right. Putin drove Russia between a rock and a hard place. They can go forward oh so slowly and they can’t back up and lose face.
Classic wolf by the ears situation. Putin has cost Russia vast amounts of blood and treasure far beyond any gain he envisioned. The stigma alone will continue to harm Russia's economy for decades.
Posted on 2/2/25 at 11:26 am to Hateradedrink
quote:
It’s been long past time for this war to end. It should be obvious to Russia that any land beyond what they’ve attained will incur losses in excess of value.
It should also be obvious to Ukraine they aren’t getting their land back.
Ukraine will get to say they survived and Russia will get to say they built a buffer.
Russia will have to concede a defense agreement with Ukraine. There won’t be true peace if Russia can restart this war in a couple years.
"Pride" is a deadly sin.
The precedent that if you want to control your neighboring countries you just invade them is going to make the world much more dangerous (and I do blame Obama for shrugging Crimea off... it should've been treated by NATO the same way Saddam invading Kuwait was handled, and most of America would've lost its mind - the same way it did when Desert Storm took place, but it is what should've happened).
Russia is not going to stop until its unable to exist, anymore.
And the fear - mocked here everytime it's brought up - is that if Russia still has any military strength at all left after this, it brings it to the Suwalki Gap and tells Poland, Germany, France and the UK "We have 15 nukes each pointed at your capitals, and you either stand down while we take back these countries or we fire them."
This post was edited on 2/2/25 at 11:39 am
Posted on 2/2/25 at 11:48 am to Hateradedrink
quote:
It’s already obvious to me it’s not Trump making policy decisions. Things are clearly written by people who don’t know how the federal government actually works, a la the rescinded memo.
The only thing to do is sit back and hope for the best. For me, I hope Trump and the circle of influence around him get everything they want. I don’t want any unanswered questions at the end of his term. Either America will be GA, or it won’t.
One thing I've become incredibly aware of in the past year, in dealing with older co-workers who wouldn't retire (or couldn't, because things like the floods a few years back set them back 20 years, financially), and older friends and older family members and their friends... is that there is a big difference for most people, mental-acuity-wise, between 75 and 78... and 80 and over is much different than that...
A friend's family are friends with Biden, and have been around him socially in the past couple of years, and they wondered if he had a stroke and it was covered up or if the pressure of the job just was too much for him, but they said "he simply isn't the same person as he was in 2020... he just isn't... he's not all there, anymore."
And... Trump is 78... I won't deny that he's peppy, but while he has never been some knowledgable policy wonk, I think we're going to see more and more of this:
US NEWS: Trump Mistakes Spain for a Member of the BRICS Bloc and Repeats the Threat of Massive Tariffs
U.S. president Donald Trump has apparently confused Spain for a member of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, causing some head-scratching and jitters over possible tariffs in Madrid
Posted on 2/2/25 at 12:07 pm to Lee B
quote:
and I do blame Obama for shrugging Crimea off
I just don’t think Crimea matters to us
If you do think it’s important though, you’re left with the problem that there’s nothing you can do about it. You’re not going to attack Russia, and destroy the world in the ensuing nuclear war, and Ukraine doesn’t have the ability to take it back. There’s no combination of training and aid that can make that happen. Economic sanctions are also ineffective, both materially, they won’t hurt Russia, but they also won’t, at any point, compel Russia to give up what they see as “their people.” And the reality is that the vast majority of the residents are ethnic Russians who see themselves as Russians. And this goes back to when the Tsars conquered the region.
You can still protest the takeover, but the problem with complaining about things you can’t change, and complaining in general, is that it makes you look weak. The better practical option is actually to ignore it.
If there was a way to prevent the takeover, it was by not pushing NATO expansion, and by not overthrowing the government and installing a hostile client state in Kiev.
Posted on 2/2/25 at 12:12 pm to Lima Whiskey
quote:
If there was a way to prevent the takeover, it was by not pushing NATO expansion, and by not overthrowing the government and installing a hostile client state in Kiev.
None of which happened, so...
Posted on 2/2/25 at 12:58 pm to Lee B
Posted on 2/2/25 at 12:59 pm to StormyMcMan
Posted on 2/2/25 at 1:39 pm to StormyMcMan
Trump has achieved what the far leftists always prayed for!!! The US is now just another of many powers, equal to China...
God help this planet.
It's becoming clearer and clearer that we're looking at a seismic shift in the US's relationship with the world, between:
1) The US dismantling its foreign interference apparatuses (like USAID ??)
2) Marco Rubio stating that we're now in a multipolar world with "multi-great powers in different parts of the planet" (LINK and that "the postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us" (LINK
3) The tariffs on supposed "allies" like Mexico, Canada or the EU
This is the US effectively saying "our attempt at running the world is over, to each his own, we're now just another great power, not the 'indispensable nation'."
It looks "dumb" (as the WSJ just wrote) if you are still mentally in the old paradigm but it's always a mistake to think that what the US (or any country) does is dumb.
Hegemony was going to end sooner or later, and now the U.S. is basically choosing to end it on its own terms. It is the post-American world order - brought to you by America itself.
Even the tariffs on allies, viewed under this angle, make sense, as it redefines the concept of "allies": they don't want - or maybe rather can't afford - vassals anymore, but rather relationships that evolve based on current interests.
You can either view it as decline - because it does unquestionably look like the end of the American empire - or as avoiding further decline: controlled withdrawal from imperial commitments in order to focus resources on core national interests rather than being forced into an even messier retreat at a later stage.
In any case it is the end of an era and, while the Trump administration looks like chaos to many observers, they're probably much more attuned to the changing realities of the world and their own country's predicament than their predecessors. Acknowledging the existence of a multipolar world and choosing to operate within it rather than trying to maintain an increasingly costly global hegemony couldn't be delayed much further. It looks messy but it is probably better than maintaining the fiction of American primacy until it eventually collapses under its own weight.
This is not to say that the U.S. won't continue to wreak havoc on the world, and in fact we might be seeing it become even more aggressive than before. Because when it previously was (badly, and very hypocritically) trying to maintain some semblance of self-proclaimed "rules-based order", it now doesn't even have to pretend it is under any constraint, not even the constraint of playing nice with allies. It's the end of the U.S. empire, but definitely not the end of the U.S. as a major disruptive force in world affairs.
All in all this transformation may mark one of the most significant shifts in international relations since the fall of the Soviet Union. And those most unprepared for it, as is already painfully obvious, are America's vassals caught completely flat-footed by the realization that the patron they've relied on for decades is now treating them as just another set of countries to negotiate with.
God help this planet.
It's becoming clearer and clearer that we're looking at a seismic shift in the US's relationship with the world, between:
1) The US dismantling its foreign interference apparatuses (like USAID ??)
2) Marco Rubio stating that we're now in a multipolar world with "multi-great powers in different parts of the planet" (LINK and that "the postwar global order is not just obsolete; it is now a weapon being used against us" (LINK
3) The tariffs on supposed "allies" like Mexico, Canada or the EU
This is the US effectively saying "our attempt at running the world is over, to each his own, we're now just another great power, not the 'indispensable nation'."
It looks "dumb" (as the WSJ just wrote) if you are still mentally in the old paradigm but it's always a mistake to think that what the US (or any country) does is dumb.
Hegemony was going to end sooner or later, and now the U.S. is basically choosing to end it on its own terms. It is the post-American world order - brought to you by America itself.
Even the tariffs on allies, viewed under this angle, make sense, as it redefines the concept of "allies": they don't want - or maybe rather can't afford - vassals anymore, but rather relationships that evolve based on current interests.
You can either view it as decline - because it does unquestionably look like the end of the American empire - or as avoiding further decline: controlled withdrawal from imperial commitments in order to focus resources on core national interests rather than being forced into an even messier retreat at a later stage.
In any case it is the end of an era and, while the Trump administration looks like chaos to many observers, they're probably much more attuned to the changing realities of the world and their own country's predicament than their predecessors. Acknowledging the existence of a multipolar world and choosing to operate within it rather than trying to maintain an increasingly costly global hegemony couldn't be delayed much further. It looks messy but it is probably better than maintaining the fiction of American primacy until it eventually collapses under its own weight.
This is not to say that the U.S. won't continue to wreak havoc on the world, and in fact we might be seeing it become even more aggressive than before. Because when it previously was (badly, and very hypocritically) trying to maintain some semblance of self-proclaimed "rules-based order", it now doesn't even have to pretend it is under any constraint, not even the constraint of playing nice with allies. It's the end of the U.S. empire, but definitely not the end of the U.S. as a major disruptive force in world affairs.
All in all this transformation may mark one of the most significant shifts in international relations since the fall of the Soviet Union. And those most unprepared for it, as is already painfully obvious, are America's vassals caught completely flat-footed by the realization that the patron they've relied on for decades is now treating them as just another set of countries to negotiate with.
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Posted on 2/2/25 at 1:42 pm to Lee B
Loading Twitter/X Embed...
If tweet fails to load, click here. Did Crooked Joe Biden steal that much?
Posted on 2/2/25 at 1:53 pm to Lee B
Leon your leftist NGO's are out of business when it comes to them pushing their woke leftist agenda on the American taxpayers dime.
The examples that are coming out now of what this corrupt USAID funded are unbelievable. It was also a money laundering scam for Democrats.
It was also used as a funding source for color revolutions and coups.
They take US tax dollars, give to these NGO's to get around laws set by Congress. These NGO's do the dirty work for them.
Government corruption at its highest level.
The examples that are coming out now of what this corrupt USAID funded are unbelievable. It was also a money laundering scam for Democrats.
It was also used as a funding source for color revolutions and coups.
They take US tax dollars, give to these NGO's to get around laws set by Congress. These NGO's do the dirty work for them.
Government corruption at its highest level.
This post was edited on 2/2/25 at 3:12 pm
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